


Gravity Falls: An Illusion Like Me

by MultifandomForte



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Adventure, Dimension Travel, F/M, Family Secrets, Gen, Illusions, My First Work in This Fandom, Mystery, POV Original Female Character, Pines Family, Second Dimension, Secrets, Slight swearing, The First Dimension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:07:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25866427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MultifandomForte/pseuds/MultifandomForte
Summary: Summer: a time of relaxing, having fun, all that jazz. Unless you’re part of the Pines family. The summer adventures of twins Dipper and Mabel Pines in Gravity Falls, along with their cousin, who happens to be a Gravity Falls native. Every family has some secrets, right? Well, their cousin has one. Can they keep it?
Relationships: Candy Chiu & Grenda & Mabel Pines, Dipper Pines & Ford Pines & Mabel Pines & Stan Pines, Dipper Pines & Mabel Pines, Ford Pines & Stan Pines, Jesus "Soos" Alzamirano Ramirez/Melody, Mabel Pines & Waddles, Stan Pines/"Lazy" Susan Wentworth, Wendy Corduroy/Robbie Valentino
Kudos: 2





	1. Sarah Jane Pines

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Gravity Falls fic so let me know how it is! <3

Summer: a time of relaxing, having fun, all that jazz. Unless you’re part of the Pines family. Hey, my name’s Sarah Jane Pines. How old am I, you ask? Well, I’m thirteen. Prime age for physical and hormonal hell. I live in Gravity Falls Oregon with Stan Pines, who took me in as a baby, since my father was presumed dead and they apparently had been good friends. I guess he’s kind of my uncle. I mean, he’ll call me his niece and stuff, so I guess he is. This summer, my apparent cousins’ parents decided to ship them up here to give them some fresh air. I’ve never met them. Hell, I haven’t been anywhere outside of Gravity Falls and its surrounding dense forest. Stan is my cousins’ great-uncle, so that somehow works out. Our place in the woods is called The Mystery Shack. Shack was the perfect term to use to describe it. Stan has it designed as a tourist trap, filled with fake oddities that attract the weak-minded. I’ve been working there since I could count. I mean, hell, I’ve lived in the Shack all my life, so I don’t have much of a choice. The town of Gravity Falls is filled with creepy stuff and legends that are actually true. My twin cousins are in for a big surprise.

“Sarah Jane!” Stan’s gruff voice called from the other room. I leaned on the cash register counter, reading a magazine, but within a few seconds, I couldn’t even remember what I had been reading.

“What?” I called back.

“Your cousins are going to be here any minute! Get the door when it rings.”

“You’re closer to the door than I am.”

“I don’t pay you to just stand there when someone comes to the door.”

“You don’t pay me at all!”

“You sarcastic little-” Stan was cut off by the doorbell ringing. “Fine, I’ll get the door.” I smiled to myself. Just another average interaction with Stan. I could hear the voices from the door. I looked up when I heard footsteps entering the room. Stan walked in with my cousins. If they weren’t twins, it would be terrifying how similar they looked. I was still a little taller than them. My eyes were naturally narrow, making my smile look a little more cunning. “Kids, this is your cousin once removed. Still your cousin.”

“Hi!” the girl greeted instantly. She had a huge smile and was wearing a pink, shooting star sweater. Her long brown hair was pulled back with a headband. Cute. “I’m Mabel!” The two of us shook hands.

“Sarah Jane,” I replied.

“This one’s Dipper,” she told me, pointing towards her brother.

“Hey,” he said neutrally. I think I intimidated him a little, to my pure delight.

“Hey,” I answered. “How do you guys like the town so far?”

“It’s….different,” Dipper told me, seeming kind of hesitant.

“You’ll learn to like it.”

Most of our interactions carried on like that for the first few days. I was working on the golf cart when I happened to turn and see Mabel rolling down a small hill.

“Yay, grass!” she called out as she rolled. She looked on the bright side of everything, an optimism that was amusing and appreciated. Dipper on the other hand, was sitting under a tree with some little notebook while a woodpecker drove him insane. They  _ did  _ move into the attic with me, so that was still pretty good. Mabel had already put up posters and stuff, while Dipper had to deal with Gompers, the goat that lived on the property. I smiled a little, watching Mabel roll down the hill again and seeing Stan sneak up on Dipper with a mask on.

“Boo!” Stan called out, causing Dipper to fall to the ground. He pulled off the mask, laughing, coughing and then laughing again. Typical routine. I really hoped Dipper would start to get used to it.

One particular day marked the beginning of everything. Mabel was hiding behind the shelf that held the bobble-head figures of Stan. I was standing next to her, actually restocking everything. A kid was standing over by the cash register. He pulled a hand-written letter from the postcard rack.

“He’s looking at it, he’s looking at it,” Mabel whispered.

“Do you like me?” he read aloud. “Yes, definitely….absolutely?” He looked around uncomfortably. I snickered.

“I rigged it!”

“Mabel,” Dipper’s voice broke the moment, “I know you’re going through your whole boy-crazy phase, but I think you’re overdoing the crazy part.”

“What? Come on, Dipper. It’s our first summer away from home. It’s my big chance to have the most epic summer romance!”

“Yeah, but do you really have to flirt with  _ every  _ guy you meet?”

“Mock me all you want, brother. I wouldn’t be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right now!” Mabel pointed at the doorway behind her, which had red curtains somewhat blocking the top of the entrance. Stan walked through a few seconds later, a pop can in his hand and loud belching coming from his mouth.

“Oh, not good, ow!” he said to himself.

“Oh, why?” Mabel questioned, disgustedly. Dipper laughed and so did I.

“Beautiful timing,” I said to Stan.

“Alright, look alive, people!” he told everyone. “I need someone to go hang up all these signs in the spooky part of the forest.”

“Not it,” the twins and I called out in unison.

“Uh, also not it,” Soos, our handyman, added.

“Nobody asked you, Soos,” Stan replied.

“I know, and I’m comfortable with that.”

“Wendy, I need you to put up this sign!” Wendy’s the other cashier/do-everything-that-needs-to-be-done worker. She’s fifteen, long red hair, absolutely gorgeous, most chill person I have  _ ever  _ met. I love working with her. She, at the moment, was sitting at the register, feet casually up on the counter, reading a magazine.

“I would, but I….uh….can’t reach it,” she replied, pretending that it was too far and a struggle. I smiled.

“I’d fire all of you, if I could. Alright, let’s make it eeny-meeny-miney….you and Sarah.” Stan pointed at Dipper.

“Oh, what?” Dipper complained. “Grunkle Stan, whenever I’m in those woods, I feel like I’m being watched.”

“That’s why you’re taking Sarah Jane with you.”

“I’m telling you, something weird is going on in the town. My mosquito bites spelled out ‘beware’.” Dipper raised his arm for Stan to see.

“That says ‘bewarb’. Look, kid, the whole ‘monsters in the forest’ thing is just town legend hyped up by guys like me to sell stuff to guys like them.” Stan motioned to a customer that was entranced with a bobble-head figure. “Besides, you’re taking Sarah with you, how bad can it be?” Dipper looked back at me and I winked at him. He sighed, as Stan loaded the signs into our arms.

We nailed up the signs on every other tree. It was mostly quiet, making it a bit awkward.

“No one believes anything I say,” Dipper broke the silence.

“I do,” I told him.

“You’re just saying that.”

“No, I’m not. Let me tell you something, Dipper. Everything Stan says about everything being normal in the town, don’t believe him. Gravity Falls is filled with weird and creepy stuff.”

“You’ve experienced stuff too?” he asked, as he went to put a nail in a tree. A metallic clank rang out when he hit the tree, causing us both to turn. Dipper clanked the tree twice, making sure what he was hearing was real. I walked over to him, just as he pulled a very small hidden covering open. There was a dusty device in the hole that was made into the tree. It had several switches and a gauge.

“Cool,” I said, flicking one of the switches. A whirr of machinery buzzed from behind us. We turned around in time to see Gompers jump away from a newly revealed opening in the ground. The two of us gathered around it. It looked as if a cabinet or a safe had been formatted into the ground. There was something in it. Dipper pulled it out. “What is it?”

“It looks like some type of journal.” He held it up so I could see it, and I let a gasp escape my mouth. It had a six-fingered handprint on the cover with a 3 written over it.

“Dipper,” I started to say. “This looks like how Stan described my dad’s journal.”

“What? I thought your dad died.”

“He did, but Stan told me that he used to keep journals that had the six-fingered handprint on it. It was supposed to be like some different little signature or something. And I kind of remember my dad. Stan says they’re memories that my mind made of from pictures, but somehow….I really  _ remember  _ him. His voice, the outline of his face. I really think this is my dad’s journal.”

“Sarah Jane, I….I believe you.”

“Really?”

“You said it yourself, weird and creepy things go on here. Everything can be a possibility.” Dipper took the journal back from me and opened it. The ‘property of’ page had been torn, so there was no name visible. Dipper flipped a few pages forward and started to read. “It’s hard to believe it’s been six years since I began studying the strange and wonderful secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon.” He flipped through a few more pages, that contained information about floating eyeballs, giant vampire bats, gnomes, etc. “Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I’m being watched. I must hide this book before  _ he  _ finds it, and before he can potentially find  _ her _ . I can’t let him find her. I have to protect her with all my life, just as I must protect this book. Remember, in Gravity Falls, there is no one you can trust.” The words’ trust no one’ were in bold, all caps and underlined. “No one you can trust….”

“HELLO!” Mabel yelled out from behind us. Dipper and I both jumped. “Whatcha reading? Some nerdy thing?” We both turned around. Dipper put the journal behind his back.

“Uh, uh, it’s nothing,” he tried to hide.

“‘Uh, uh, it’s nothing’,” Mabel mocked. “Are you guys seriously not going to show me?” Dipper and I exchanged looks.

“Let’s go somewhere….private.”

We headed back to the living room of the Shack, which was finally closed. Mabel sat on the arm of Stan’s armchair, while Dipper paced and I sat on the floor.

“It’s fantastic!” Dipper was saying. “Grunkle Stan said I was just being paranoid, but this book says that Gravity Falls has a secret dark side. And we think Sarah Jane’s dad is the one who wrote it. The pages also just stop after a while, and then they all go blank.”

“That’s probably when my dad died,” I spoke up. “He probably never got to finish writing it.” I was interrupted by the doorbell.

“Who’s that?”

“Well, time to spill the beans,” Mabel interjected, tipping over the empty can of beans next to her. “Broop, beans. This girl’s got a date! Whoo, whoo!”

“Wait so let me get this straight, in the forty five minutes we were gone, you already found a boyfriend?”

“Then she’s doing better than me,” I commented with a small smile. I knew that I should’ve been thinking more about the fact that we found my late father’s journal that confirmed our suspicions, but I was more…. _ plotting  _ inside my head. I had ideas that I wanted to put into motion.

“What can I say? I guess I’m just irresistible!” I laughed, as Mabel proceeded to flop the long sleeves of her sweater around. The doorbell rang again. “Coming!” she called out, running for the door. Dipper and I took a seat on the armchair, with just enough room for both of us. We were about to read more of the journal, but Stan happened to walk by.

“What you reading there, kids?” he asked. Dipper quickly shoved the book behind us and grabbed one of the magazines on the lamp table next to us.

“Uh, ‘Gold Chains for Old Men Magazine’?”

“That’s a good issue. What about you, Sarah?” Time to put my plan in motion.

“Oh, just wondering if maybe you could tell me a story about my dad?” Stan walked over to us, pop can in his hand, and leaned on the armchair.

“One day inearly spring, he conceived you. The end.” I let my smile fade. Dipper and I exchanged glances.

“Hey, family!” Mabel’s sing-song voice grabbed our attention. She stood in the doorway with a….silhouette? of a guy. I, personally, wasn’t sure. He was wearing a dark….everything. Hoodie, pants, shoes, everything. He also had his hood up. “Say hello to my new boyfriend!” He finally turned around. His skin was the palest pale I had ever seen and a strip of shaggy brown hair covered his left eye. It looked like there was….blood on his face.

“‘Sup?” he asked in a deep and kind of raspy voice.

“Hey….?” Dipper greeted hesitantly. I held up two fingers, as a sign of peace.

“How’s it hanging?” Stan greeted, seeming to share the same uncomfortableness.

“We met at the cemetery,” Mabel told us. “He’s  _ really  _ deep.” Her hands moved to hang on his arm. “Ooh, little muscle there. Hehe, what a surprise.”

“So, what’s your name?” Dipper asked.

“Uh….Normal….Man!” the guy replied.

“He means Norman,” Mabel said.

“Are you bleeding, Norman?”

“It’s jam.”

“Oh, I  _ love  _ jam!” Mabel instantly told him. Oh boy. Hopeless romantic 101. “Just look at this connection!”

“So you wanna go hold hands or….whatever?” Norman asked her.

“Oh, oh my goodness! Don’t wait up!” Dipper, Stan and I had switched places by now. Norman left the room, but not before slamming his head on the doorway and then walking out. Dip and I looked at each other, the same expression on our faces: There was something about Norman that wasn’t right.

We decided to consult my dad’s journal, traveling up to the bay window on the attic landing. There was another one in our room, but this one had red tinted glass. It was in the shape of a detailed triangle, something I had questioned for years. Leaning with our backs against the window, we shared the book. I was the one reading this time.

“Known for their extremely pale skin and bad attitudes, these creatures are easily and often mistaken for….oh, that says teenagers. Beware Gravity Falls’s iniquitous-” I was cut off by Dipper’s gasp, as he filled in the blanks.

“Zombie?!” he shouted. It echoed through the house. Great. I was slightly started by the shout, not expecting it to come from him. We both turned around, facing the outside of the window. Mabel and Norman were down below, Mabel sitting on one of the picnic tables. Norman was approaching her, his arms stretched out. She said something, and by reading lips, I assumed it to be ‘I like you’. “No, no, Mabel, watch out!” Dipper urged, as Norman placed his hands by her neck. I analyzed the situation, and it didn’t seem to be the one that Dipper feared. Norman took his hands away, revealing a daisy necklace around Mabel’s neck. Dipper stood up from the bench seat. “Is my twin sister really dating a zombie, or am I just going crazy?”

“It’s a dilemma, to be sure,” Soos’s voice scared the living hell out of Dipper, mostly because Soos appeared out of nowhere, as usual. He was fixing the light. “I couldn’t help but overhear you talking to Sarah while she sits silently, absorbing your every word.”

“Soos, you’ve seen Mabel’s boyfriend. He has to be a zombie, right?” Dipper questioned.

“Hmm. How many brains did you see him eat?”

“Zero.”

“Look, dude, I believe you. I’m always noticing weird stuff going on in this town. Like the mailman? Pretty sure the dude’s a werewolf. But you gotta have evidence. Otherwise, people are gonna think you’re a nut.”

“As always, you’re right, Soos,” I spoke up.

“My wisdom is both a blessing, and a curse.”

“Soos! The portable toilets are clogged again!” Stan called from downstairs.

“I am needed elsewhere.” Soos slowly backed out of the room.

Mabel was potentially in trouble, and we needed to get some evidence. We spied on them for days, which I can’t say I’m particularly proud of, until we had seen enough. Dipper finally dragged me upstairs to the attic. He threw the door open to see Mabel brushing her hair.

“Mabel, we need to talk about Norman!” he stated. I sat down on his bed, just waiting for the show to begin.

“Isn’t he the best?” she responded. “Look at the big smoochie mark he gave me!” She turned her face to reveal a huge red mark.

“Damn,” I heard myself say. Dipper was about to flip, but Mabel started to laugh. 

“Ha, gullible. This was just an accident with the leaf blower.” I was already starting to imagine. Kiss practice, most likely. “That was fun.”

“No, Mabel, listen. We’re trying to tell you that Norman isn’t what he seems.” Dipper held up the journal.

“Do you think he might be a vampire? That would be awesome.”

“Guess again.” Dipper held up the zombie page.

“A zombie? Dipper, that’s not funny.”

“I’m not joking. It all fits together. The limp, the bleeding….he never  _ blinks _ ! Have you noticed that?”

“Maybe he’s blinking when you’re blinking.”

“Sarah, are you in this, too?” I was about to answer, but Dipper cut me off.

“Mabel, remember, the book said trust no one.” I picked up a pillow and whipped it at Dipper.

“Don’t interrupt me,” I snapped. “Look, I’m taking neither side. I can see that you like Norman and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, I think that there’s enough reason from Dipper’s side to take caution when it comes to him.”

“Look, Norman and I are going on a date at five, and I’m going to be adorable, and he’s going to be dreamy. And I’m not gonna let you ruin it with one of your conspiracy theories!” she shoved Dipper out of the room, me following close behind him.

Five came and the doorbell rang. Mabel ran downstairs, pulling on a ‘meow wow’ bedazzled sweater. In the reflection of light, it was as blinding as holding a flashlight to your eye. I leaned by the stairs, listening to the interaction.

“Hey Norman, how do I look?”

“Shiny.”

“You always know what to say.” Dipper watched them from Stan’s armchair. I walked over to them as they left.

“I hate to say it,” I started, “but Soos was right. We don’t have any actual evidence.” Dipper sighed, rewatching the footage we took from spying on them.

“I know. This one’s on me.” I watched the video with him. “I guess I can be really paranoid sometimes, and-”

“Wait, what the hell?!” I questioned, seeing something shocking on the video. It looked like Norman’s hand fell off and he put it right back on. Dipper rewinded the video, and what I had seen appeared again. His hand had fallen off, clear as day. The armchair flipped backwards, as we both sat up suddenly. “You were right, you were right!” We leapt off the chair, running for the door.

“Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Stan!” We ran around the side of the house. Stan was with a tour group, showing them another one of his fake attractions.

“And here we have ‘Rock that Looks like a Face’ rock. The rock that looks like a face,” he was telling the group.

“Does it look like a rock?” someone asked.

“No, it looks like a face.”

“Is it a face?”

“It’s a rock that  _ looks  _ like a face!”

“Over here! Grunkle Stan!” Dipper called, but I knew that nothing was going to get Stan’s attention. I happened to look over and see Wendy pulling in the golf cart.

“Wendy!” I called, running towards her. Dipper followed me. We reached her within seconds.

“We need to borrow the golf cart so I can save my sister from a zombie!” Dipper spilled out. There was a pause. She smiled at us and dropped the keys in Dipper’s hand.

“Try not to hit any pedestrians,” she told us, then walking away. We hopped into the cart, Dipper taking the driver’s seat.

“Hey, wait, dudes, it’s me, Soos,” our friend said, stopping us. “This is for the zombies.” He placed a shovel in my hand.

“Thanks.”

“And this is in case you see a piñata.” He gave me a baseball bat.

“Uh….thanks?”

“Better safe than sorry.”

“Let’s go,” I told Dipper. He moved the key and hit the gas.

There were at least three times I thought Dipper was going to kill us. The boy can’t drive to save any of our lives, which was probably going to kill us later.

“Help!” we heard Mabel’s scream.

“Turn here!” I told him, holding onto the cart’s roof support to make sure I didn’t fall out. We sped down a hill, which almost sent me tumbling. We skidded to a stop when we saw Mabel’s outline, surrounded by….gnomes?

“The more you struggle, the more awkward this is going to be for everyone!” the lead gnome told her. “Just get her arm there, Steve.”

“Let go of me!” Mabel yelled, fighting off the gnomes. One flew over to a tree and started puking rainbows. Joy. I instantly had the baseball bat in my hand, Dipper getting the shovel.

“What the hell is going on here?!” I shouted, getting their attention. One of the gnomes hissed at me, so I pointed the bat at it.

“Sarah! Dipper! Norman turned out to be a bunch of gnomes!” Mabel explained, still fighting them off. “And they’re total jerks!”

“Gnomes? Wow, we were way off,” Dipper commented, flipping quickly to the gnome page of the book. “Gnomes, little men of the Gravity Falls forest. Weakness unknown.” The gnomes had tied Mabel down by now. “Hey! Let go of my sister!” One of the little creatures turned around to face us.

“Oh, hi, um, this is really all just a big misunderstanding, you see?” he started to try to reason. “Your sister’s not in danger, she’s just marrying all one thousand of us and becoming our queen for all eternity. Isn’t that right, honey?”

“You guys are butt-faces!” Mabel’s insult was muffled, as her mouth was covered. Dipper and I had our weapons ready.

“Give her back right now, or else!”

“You think you children can stop us? You have no idea what us gnomes are capable of. We are a powerful race!” Dipper took the shovel, scooped up the gnome and tossed him to the side. I freed Mabel, knowing out the strings that held her and the gnomes around her. “They’re getting away with our queen!” We rushed back to the golf cart. I positioned myself on the top of the seat, as the other two buckled themselves in. I took the shovel from Dipper.

“Go, go, go!” I told him. He hit the gas. I was ready to fight.

“Hurry, they might follow us!” Mabel urged.

“I wouldn’t count on it. I mean, did you see their tiny little legs-” Dip was cut off by a sudden thudding of the ground. He stopped the golf cart, both of them turning to face what I was seeing. The gnomes had assembled to create one enormous gnome warrior monster that was as tall as the pine trees. It roared at us.

“Hit it!” I yelled out. Dipper slammed on the gas pedal, just as the gnome fist came down and missed us. The monster started running after us. “Go, go!” Four gnomes flew from the monster’s fingers, landing on the top of the cart. I started fighting them off with the shovel, even as they hissed at me. I missed one, which Dipper slammed into the horn three times.

“Shmebulock,” it said wearily, as Dipper tossed it into the treeline. Another flew right onto his face, which Mabel punched until it let go, taking Dipper’s ball cap with it. I slammed another round with the shovel. The monster uprooted a tree and threw it.

“Look out!” Mabel and I shouted, as the tree fell in front of us. There was just enough room for the golf cart to slide under it. The Shack was in sight. The cart skidded, then flipped onto its side. We climbed out from it, backing up to the wall of the Shack. A shovel wouldn’t be much help, as of now. Same with the baseball bat. I stood in front of my cousins, not really sure what I could actually do.

“It’s the end of the line, kids,” the lead gnome warned us. “Mabel, marry us before we do something really crazy!”

“There has to be a way out of this,” Dipper whispered.

“I gotta do it,” Mabel replied, stepping forward.

“No,” I told her. “Are you crazy?”

“Trust me. Just this once, both of you, trust me.” Dipper and I hesitantly backed away after a few seconds. “Alright, Jeff, I’ll marry you.”

“Hot dog!” the gnome celebrated, then climbing to the ground from the top of the gnome monster. He approached Mabel, holding out a ring box with some sort of crystal ring. It wasn’t diamond, but it was some type of crystal. He put the ring on Mabel’s finger. I watched closely, wondering what she was planning. “Now, let’s get you back into the forest, honey!”

“You may now kiss the bride,” Mabel answered. Everything suddenly clicked. Kissing practice.

“Don’t mind if I do.” The gnome leaned forward, and Mabel grabbed the leaf blower from behind her, pointing it at Jeff. “Hey, wait a minute!” Mabel sucked him into the leaf blower.

“That’s for lying to me!” she yelled. She further reversed it, sucking him deeper in. “That’s for breaking my heart! And this is for messing with my family! Care to do the honors?” Dipper pushed the lever forward, shooting Jeff right into the gnome monster and destroying it. They all scattered and ran back into the woods.

“YES!” I screamed out, jumping in my place. “That was FANTASTIC!” We laughed, also now covered in leaves, and started walking back to the door.

“Hey, Dipper,” Mabel said. “I’m sorry for ignoring the advice about Norman. You both were really just looking out for me.”

“Oh come on,” he replied. “Don’t be like that. You saved our butts back there.”

“I guess I’m just sad that my first boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of little gnomes.”

“Look on the bright side, maybe the next one will be a vampire. Awkward sibling hug?”

“Awkward sibling hug.” They hugged, and then both said “pat pat” as they patted each other’s backs.

“Don’t forget me!” I interrupted, hugging both of them. I was glad that I could make them laugh. It made me good for something.

The entry bell rang, as we walked into the gift shop. There were leaves in my hair, which was uncomfortable.

“Yeesh!” Stan greeted. “You kids get hit by a bus or something? Ha ha.” We started walking by, unamused and tired. “Uh, hey, wait!” Stan called us back. “Wouldn’t you know it? I, uh, accidentally overstocked some inventory, so how about each of you take one thing from the gift shop on the house?” I smiled a little, happy that Stan  _ did  _ have a heart.

“What’s the catch?” Dipper asked.

“The catch is do it before I change my mind. Now take something.” Dipper took a blue and white ball cap that had a blue pine tree on it. Cute.

“I will have a….” Mabel said. “Grappling hook!”

“Wouldn’t you rather have a doll or something?” Stan asked. She shot it up at the ceiling, pulling herself up.

“Grappling hook!”

“Fair enough. What about you, Sarah?” Stan asked, finally noticing me leaning on the counter.

“You know exactly what I want.”

“I told you no already.”

“You said any one item in the gift shop. The necklace is in the gift shop. Come on. You can’t back out now.” Stan sighed and finally gave in, pulling out the box. I eagerly opened it. It was a rather simple necklace, but it was the charm on the end of it that I was really after. It was a mini replica of the Mystery Shack. I had been trying to get it from Stan for months.

“Thank you,” I told him with a big smile.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Night fell and we all turned in to the attic. Mabel was jumping on her bed, playing with the grappling hook to bring her stuffed animals to her. Dipper was writing in my dad’s journal, probably about our little adventure and stuff. I felt that maybe I’d really have fun this summer, having them around.

“Hey, Mabel, can you get the light?” Dipper asked. Mabel used the grappling hook to take out not only the light, but also the window. I lied facing the wall, away from them. There was so much I wanted to show them and tell them about Gravity Falls. About me. I had a secret. A secret that I had been keeping all my life, and the only other person who knew was Stan. But he would never tell them. Or let me tell them. I  _ wanted  _ to, though. I wanted to tell them my secret, but what was really stopping me was the fear of if they’d be able to keep it.


	2. The Right Decision

“Are you ready for the ultimate challenge?” Mabel asked, holding up the Sir Syrup bottle. It was in the plastic mold of a knight.

“I’m always ready!” Dipper answered, holding up the Mountain Man Maple Syrup bottle.

“You know what that means?!”

“Syrup race!” they yelled in unison. The twins turned the bottles upside down and waited for the syrup to fall into their mouths. I snickered, watching Mabel hit the bottle to further the syrup.

“I won!” she announced, while also choking. Dipper pulled out a magazine.

“Hey, guys, check this out,” he said. I walked over to the table, the orange juice carton in my hand.

“A human sized hamster ball,” Mabel read one of the ads. She gasped. “ _ I’m  _ human sized!”

“No, Mabel, look at  _ this _ ,” Dipper corrected, pointing to a monster contest ad. “We see weirder things than that every day. Did we get any pictures of the gnomes?”

“No,” I answered. “Just nightmares and memories.”

“And this beard hair,” Mabel added, pulling out a tuft of gnome hair.

“Why did you keep that?” She shrugged.

“Morning, knuckleheads,” Stan greeted, walking into the room, “and the growing mold that lives here.”

“Good morning to you too,” I replied sarcastically.

“You kids know what day it is?”

“Happy….anniversary?” Dipper suggested.

“Merry Christmas,” I said.

“Mazel tov!” Mabel guessed.

“It’s family fun day, genius,” Stan told us, whacking Dipper with the newspaper. “We’re cutting work and having one of those, you know, bonding type deal things.” Stan took the OJ from my hand.

“Is this going to be like the last one?” I asked. Mabel shuddered.

“The county jail was so cold,” she commented.

“Alright, maybe I haven’t been the best summer caretaker, but-”

“ _ Summer  _ caretaker?” I cut him off with a sarcastic little smile.

“I’m telling you, today we’re going to have some  _ real  _ family fun time. Now, who wants to put on some blindfolds and get into my car?” There was a pause. Only the twins responded.

“Yay!”

The tires of the car screeched again as the car jerked. I was, luckily, in the passenger seat, so the motion sickness wasn’t  _ unbearable _ , but the only person not wearing a blindfold was Stan.

“Blindfolds never lead to anything good,” Dipper commented.

“I feel like all my other senses are heightened,” Mabel said. “I can see through my fingers.” She was about to tickle Dipper, but the car hit a bump, causing my fingers to tighten around the door handle.

“Grunkle Stan, are  _ you  _ wearing a blindfold?” Dipper asked.

“No, he’s not,” I answered, starting to feel the motion sickness.

“I might as well be with these cataracts,” Stan replied. “What’s that, a woodpecker?”

After crashing the car through some of the woods, we finally came to a stop and climbed out.

“Okay, okay, open up!” Stan ordered. We pulled our blindfolds off. Stan stood under an ‘opening day’ sign. “It’s fishing season!”

“Fishing?” Mabel asked.

“What are you playing at, old man?” Dipper questioned.

“You’re gonna love it!” Stan replied, putting a fishing pole in my hand. “The whole town’s out here.” I scanned the boats nearest to the beach, seeing Lazy Susan with her fishing pan, and Manly Dan Corduroy with Wendy’s three brothers, proceeding to beat a fish. “That’s some quality family bonding.”

“Why do you want to bond with us all of the sudden?” I asked. “I mean, I can understand them, but there’s also the fact that you let me tag along.”

“Oh, come on, this’ll be great! I’ve never had fishing buddies before. The lodge guys won’t go with me because they don’t ‘like or trust’ me.” The twins and I exchanged glances. I was smiling, mostly because this was the first time Stan included me in something he liked besides the Mystery Shack.

“I think he actually wants to fish with us,” Mabel said to us.

“Hey, I know what’ll make you sad sacks cheer up. Pow!” Stan threw two hats onto the twins, and shoved a third onto my head. “Pines family fishing hats.” The letters on each hat had been sloppily stitched on. The twins had “Dippy” and “Mabel”. I looked at mine, start to smile. It said “Mold”. I was Mold. Sarah Jane “Mold” Pines. I looked down towards the ground a little, still having a smile, but feeling my eyes beginning to water and sting. “It’s just going to be you kids, me, and those goofy hats on a boat for ten hours!”

“Ten hours?” Dipper questioned.

“I brought the joke book.” Stan held up the “Uncle Approved” joke book. Dipper’s face filled with horror.

“There has to be a way out of this,” Mabel whispered.

“I SEEN IT! I SEEN IT AGAIN!” a familiar voice shouted out, making us turn. Old Man McGucket pushed past people, knocking over a table of bait and a sandwich. “THE GRAVITY FALLS GOBBLEWONKER! Come quick, before it scramdoodles away!” McGucket yipped, doing a type of….reflex jig? I wasn’t sure, but I was used to seeing and hearing McGucket by now.

“Aw, he’s doing a happy jig,” Mabel said.

“No!” McGucket corrected her. “It’s a jig of grave danger!”

“Hey, hey!” one of the fishing rangers called out, holding a squirt bottle. “Now, what did I tell you about scaring my customers? This is your last warning, Dad!” the ranger told McGucket, spraying him with the bottle.

“But I got proof this time, by gummity! Behold!” McGucket pointed towards his destroyed little rowboat. “It’s gobbledywonker what done did it!” The lake police had pulled up by now, but everyone knew that they wouldn’t be doing much of anything. “It had a long neck like a gee-raffe, and wrinkly skin like….like this gentlemen right there!” McGucket pointed at Stan, making me smile a bit, since Stan didn’t notice. “It chopped my boat up to smitheroons! It shim-shammed over to Scuttlebutt Island! You gotta believe me!”

“Attention, all units,” the lake police chief cut him off. “We’ve got ourselves a crazy old man.” Everyone started to laugh at McGucket, which made me feel bad.

“Aw, donkey spittle! Banjo polish.” He walked away, defeated, and the crowd cleared with him.

“Well, that happened,” Stan said, climbing into his rickety creation that somehow managed to float. It was named, with permanent marker, the  _ Stan O War _ . “Let’s untie this boat and get out on the lake.” Dipper immediately turned to Mabel and me.

“Did you guys hear what that old guy said?”

“Aw, donkey spittle!” Mabel replied, letting her eyes cross.

“No, the other thing about the monster. If we could get a photo of it, we could split the prize five hundred bucks each. Imagine what you could do with five hundred dollars.” I already knew that Mabels’ mind went straight to that human-sized hamster ball, and Dipper’s mind went to all-time mystery fame. I, personally, would’ve used it to work on fixing the attic.

“I am one million percent on board with this!” Mabel told Dipper. I wasn’t so sure.

“Grunkle Stan, change of plans!” Dipper said. “We’re taking that boat to Scuttlebutt Island, and we’re going to find the gobblewonker!” The twins continued to chant “monster hunt” in unison. A boat horn blew, as Soos pulled up to the dock in his slightly better put together boat.

“You dudes say something about a monster hunt?” he asked.

“Soos!” Mabel greeted.

“What’s up, hambone?” They fist-bumped each other. “You guys could totally use my boat for your hunt.”

“Alright, let’s think this through,” Stan intervened. “You kids  _ could  _ go waste your time with Soos on some epic monster-hunting adventure, or you could spend the day learning how to tie knots and skewer worms with your Grunkle Stan!” There was a long pause, but it didn’t take long for the twins to make their decision. “So whaddya say?” They were on the boat within seconds, speeding away with Soos. They were cheering as they sped away.

“We made the right choice!” I heard Mabel yell out. Stan looked obviously disappointed, but then turned to look at me, still standing on the dock.

“Aren’t you going with them?” he asked. I smiled and stepped into the boat.

“Oh, don’t worry, they won’t be missing me,” I replied, letting the water reflect off my eyes for a second.

“Bunch of ingrates. Ah, who needs them? We’ve got an entire box of creepy-looking fishing lures to keep us company.” The flies buzzed for a few seconds, and Stan closed the box. “I’m also not talking about dead people while we’re out here.”

Dipper stood ‘heroically’ at the front of the ship, with Soos at the wheel, Mabel on the starboard side and me leaning against the wall of the control station.

“Hoist the anchor! Raise the flag!” Dipper ordered.

“We’re going to find that gobblewonker!” Mabel announced.

“We’re going to win that photo contest!”

“Do any of you dudes have sunscreen?” Soos asked. There was a pause.

“We’re gonna….go get sunscreen!” We were heading back towards Scuttlebutt Island in a few minutes. “Okay, if we want to win this contest, we have to do it right. Think, what’s the top problem with most monster hunts?”

“You’re a side character and you die in the first five minutes of the movie,” Soos answered, making me smile. “Dude, am I a side character? Do you ever think about stuff like that?”

“No, no, it’s  _ camera  _ trouble. Say that Bigfoot shows up. Soos, be bigfoot.” Soos stood sideways, doing his best impersonation. “There he is, Bigfoot! Uh-oh, no camera! Oh, wait, here’s one!” Dipper pulled a film camera out of his pocket. “You see what I’m doing here? That’s why I bought seventeen disposable cameras. Two on my ankle, three in my jacket, two for each of you, three extras in this bag, one under my hat and two in S.J.’s jacket. There’s no way we can miss this. Okay, everyone, test your cameras out.” I took what I knew would be a cute picture, making sure the flash was off. Soos took a picture of himself with the flash on, resulting in the camera being thrown overboard. “This is exactly why you need backup cameras. We still have sixteen.” A bird swooped by Mabel’s head, and ended up getting her camera thrown at it.

“Ah, bird!”

“Fifteen. Okay, guys, I repeat,  _ don’t  _ lose your cameras.”

“Wait, lose the cameras?” Soos asked.

“Don’t!”

“Dude, I just threw two away.”

“Thirteen! We still have thirteen cameras-” Dipper stopped himself when his fist made a crunch, as he went to put it on the table. “Twelve. We have twelve cameras.”

“So what’s the plan? Throw more cameras overboard or what?” Mabel asked.

“No! No, okay. You’ll be the lookout, Soos can work the steering wheel and S.J. can stay at the front with me to direct Soos. I’ll be captain.”

“What? Why do you get to be captain? What about Mabel, huh?” Mabel questioned. “Ma-bel! Ma-bel!”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.”

“What about co-captain?”

“There’s no such thing as co-captain.”

“Oh, whoops!” Mabel purposely pitched another camera overboard.

“Okay, fine! You can be co-captain!”

“Can I be associate co-captain?” Soos asked.

“As co-captain, I authorize that request!”

“I suppose that makes me the Admiral, then,” I commented, not that it really mattered.

“As  _ first  _ co-captain, our number one order of business is to lure the monster out with this.” Dipper pointed to a large barrel of fish food.

“Permission to taste some?” our associate co-captain asked.

“Granted.”

“Permission co-granted.” I motioned with my head to go ahead.

“Permission associate go-granted.” Soss picked up a piece of fish food and licked it, then instantly spitting it out from how bad it tasted. “Dude, I don’t even know what I expected it to taste like.”

“Traitors!” Stan complained from a distance. I moved my fishing pole to the opposite side of the  _ Stan O War _ . “We’ll find our own fishing buddies. Oh look, I see some!”

The twins, Soos and I were heading into the creepy part of the lake near the island within a few minutes. It was very foggy. Soos shoved fish food overboard into the water. I sat on top of the control box, giving myself the best, and warmest, view. A pelican had also joined us, letting Mabel play with it.

“Hey, how’s it going?” she asked him. “ _ It’s going awesome _ ,” she made him reply, moving his bill. “Bow wow bow bow.”

“Mabel, leave the nature alone,” Dipper told her.

“ _ Aw, I don’t mind none! _ Hey look, I’m drinking water.  _ Grinkle, grinkle little _ -” She started choking on the water, making the pelican fly away.

“Aren’t you supposed to be lookout?”

“I think I took that job,” I told him.

“Look out!” Mabel threw a ball at him. “Haha.” We hit the shore suddenly a few seconds later.

“We’re here,” I announced. We jumped off the boat and started walking the path. I held the lantern in front of us, leading the group. We passed a couple of signs for the island, mostly ones that told us to ‘beware’.

“Dude, check it out.” Soos covered ‘Scuttle’. “Butt Island.”

“Soos, you rapscallion!” Mabel answered. I snickered. Dipper, however, looked way too serious.

“What, are you scared?” I asked, jokingly.

“What, no.”

“Oh, yes, you are!”

“I am not!”

“Yes, you-” I was cut off by a low growling sound.

“Dudes, did you hear that?” Soos asked. Everyone had moved closer to each other.

“Was it your stomach?” Mabel questioned in response.

“No, my stomach normally sounds like whale noises.” Mabel listened, hearing the truth for herself.

“So majestic.” An opossum took the lantern from me as well and ran off with it.

“No, the lantern! Ugh, I can barely see anything,” Dipper complained.

“Dude, I don’t know, man, maybe this isn’t worth it,” Soos suggested.

“ _ Not  _ worth it? Come on, imagine what would happen if we got that picture.” Dipper’s mind went straight back to an interview on TV as a famed monster-hunter-adventure-seeker. I’m in!” The twins ran ahead, but all Soos and I did was follow slowly behind them.

While we walked, Soos made all kinds of weird beat-box sounds. Mabel was rapping to them.

“My name is Mabel, it rhymes with table, it also rhymes with glable. It also rhymes with schmable, it’s S.J.’s turn, what rhymes with her name?” I decided to play along.

“My name is Sarah Jane, it rhymes with rain, but my nickname S.J. rhymes with replay.”

“Dudes, we should be writing this down,” Soos suggested.

“Guys, guys, do you hear something?” Dipper cut us off. There was a deep growling ringing out from around us. A group of birds flew from an area in front of us. “This is it! This is it!” The twins moved forward, while Soos handed me a sharpened stick that was about my height. He had another one in his hand. A figure was sticking out of the water in front of us, causing everyone to dive behind a fallen tree. “Everyone, cameras ready.” We pulled out our cameras, but I made sure to keep the spear-stick with me. “Ready, go!” Soos ran ahead of us, roaring as he moved. We followed him a few seconds after. We all snapped pictures randomly, until we reached the figure. It was a wrecked rowboat, covered with adorable beavers. The beavers were chittering to each other.

“I love cavorting,” one of them said.

“That deserves a hug,” the other one replied. A third one fell into the water. Soos continued to take cute pictures.

“But what was that noise?” Dipper questioned, confused. A growl came from our left, making us turn. A beaver was playing with a chainsaw.

“Sweet! Beaver with a chainsaw!” Soos announced, continuing to take pictures.

“Maybe the old guy was crazy after all,” Dipper said, disappointedly.

“He  _ did  _ use the word scrapdoodle,” Mabel agreed.

Stan, on the normal-ish side of the lake, was now talking to random people. He was talking to this little kid, which was uncomfortable.

“Look, when you’re threading the line-a lot of people don’t know this-but you want to use a barrel knot. That’s a secret from one fishing buddy to another.”

“Uh, who are you exactly?” this poor kid questioned.

“Just call me your Grunkle Stan!”

“Sir, why are you talking to our son?” the kid’s mom asked. “If you don’t leave right now, I’m calling the police.”

“Uh, you see, the thing about that is….” Stan started to reply. He sped the boat away before he could finish his statement.

“Go bother your own kids!”

Soos was basically doing a photo shoot with a beaver, while the twins sulked over their failure in the monster hunt.

“What are we going to tell Grunkle Stan? We ditched him over nothing.” Well,  _ they  _ ditched him. I didn’t. Dipper sighed. A large vibration suddenly shot through the ground. Dipper slipped off the rock he was sitting on from the force, and I pulled him back onto the land. A big tail whooshed past us, and we could see the back of  _ something  _ sticking out of the water. Dipper instantly started taking pictures. “This is our chance!” Mabel and Soos were seeing the same thing I was. It was starting to come towards us. “What’s wrong with you guys?” The other two started to back up, but I stayed right where I was, just to make sure that I could still grab Dipper if I needed to. The monster’s head popped up from the water, along with its long neck, like a giraffe.

“Dipper….” I heard myself say.

“It’s not that hard, just point the camera and shoot, like this.” Dipper turned around, finally seeing what we were seeing. The monster roared at us, showing its sharp and long teeth. I instantly grabbed Dipper’s hood, making him drop the camera. I dragged him with me as I ran, letting him go once he caught up. The monster climbed onto the land, following us. Dipper shoved Mabel away from a falling tree. I let them run ahead, continuing to sprint with my spear-stick.

“Get back to the boat!” I yelled out. “Get back to the boat!” Soos grabbed Mabel and put her on his back, continuing to run. Dipper managed to get another picture, but dropped the camera.

“The picture!” he called out, about to turn around. I grabbed the back of his hood, continuing to drag him with me.

“Dude, if it makes you feel any better, I got tons of pictures of those beavers, dude!” Soos told him.

“Why would that make me feel better?!” I tightened my grip and practically threw him onto the boat deck. As everyone rushed to get on, I leapt over the railing and instantly moved to the control box. I reversed the boat, gaining as much speed as possible. The monster was still following us.

“Do you know how to drive?” Soos questioned.

“If there’s one thing I learned from living with Stan, it’s how to operate any type of moving vehicle,” I replied.

“This is our chance!” Dipper said, moving to get a picture. “No, cracked lens! Soos, S.J., get a picture!” Soos started whipping the cameras at the monster. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“Don’t worry, there’s still one left.” The handyman threw the camera, which shattered. The monster jumped into the water, swimming after us. I could feel my heart racing. Against my better judgement, I pulled out one of the four cameras I had on me.

“Dipper!” I called out. He turned, and I tossed the camera to him. I was grateful that he caught it, without it breaking.

“Go, go, go!” he told me. I punched the controls, propelling us forward. Stan and I were still in his boat, this time trying to untie a knot in the fishing lines.

“Can you tell me more funny stories, Pop-Pop?” a little kid asked his grandfather in another boat. The boy was sitting with his sister.

“Anything for my fishing buddies!” the grandfather answered. I put my head down and smiled a little, finding the timing to be painful.

“Pop-Pop, I just wealized that…..I wuv you.”

“Aw, come one!” Stan yelled out. “Boo! Boo!”

“Hey there, what’s the big idea?” the grandfather answered.

“Maybe he has no one who wuvs him, Pop-Pop.” Stan was about to answer, but both the boat and the monster sped past him, causing everyone to get soaking wet. I continued to speed the boat wherever I could, but realized instantly the wrong turn I took. We were heading straight for the falls, but we had a little bit before we got there. I had to think of how to improvise. The beavers were in front of us.

“S.J., the beavers!” Dipper called out. I skidded the boat as best as I could, but still splashed into the beavers. They were everywhere on the boat.

“Fight them off!” I ordered, keeping my hands on the boat’s wheel. The others were doing a pretty good job with the beavers, but the monster was still after us. I swerved around people’s boats the best I could. The monster didn’t lighten up. It tipped over Manly Dan’s boat, causing all their fish to start raining on them.

“The fishes! They seek revenge! Swim, boys, swim!” he cried out. I kept driving the boat. We all ducked, as the monster took out the roof of the control box and the railings.

“Look out!” Mabel yelled out. There were two guys holding a sheet of glass in front of them. I didn’t have any other choice than to drive through it.

“My glass!” one of them screeched. I knew I was still heading for the falls. There had to be a cave there. There were caves everywhere around the town.

“S.J.….” Dipper warned.

“Everyone, hold on!” I shouted. We all screamed as I drove the boat through the falls. It crashed into the shore of the cave, throwing us off. Soos’s shirt was ripped off, but everyone was otherwise okay. The monster crashed through the opening of the cave. I threw myself in front of everyone protectively. After a few seconds, we all looked to see that the monster was stuck in the cave entrance.

“It’s stuck!” Mabel announced. I dropped to my shaking knees, more than relieved. I had never done anything like that before, truly throwing myself in front of immediate danger to protect anyone.

“This is perfect!” Dipper said. He pulled me up by my hand, as we all moved to the high rock ledge by the monster’s head. I saw that Dipper had dropped the camera I had given him. He searched desperately for a camera, so I lifted up his hat to reveal the last camera he had with him. He snapped as many pictures as he could.

“Are they good ones?” Mabel asked.

“They’re all good ones!” They cheered, until a metallic clank rang out from the monster’s head. Electrical crackling soon followed, as the monster’s head fell into the water. “What the….?” I hopped down from the ledge, approaching the not-moving monster. It clanged when I knocked on it. Getting a good grip, I climbed to the top. “Be careful, S.J.!” Dipper warned.

“Hey, guys, come check this out,” I answered. After everyone was up, we gathered around a hatch that was built into this…. _ thing _ . The twins and I opened it up. “Old Man McGucket?” I questioned. He looked up towards us.

“Aw, banjo polish!” he responded.

“ _ You _ ?” Dipper asked in shock. “ _ You  _ made this? Why?”

“Well, I….” McGucket got shy, all of the sudden. “I, uh….I just wanted attention,” he admitted. His tone and mannerism about it made my heart shatter.

“I still don’t understand.”

“Well first, I hootenannied up a biomechanical brainwave generator and then I learned to operate this stick shift with my beard.” He demonstrated.

“Yeah, but  _ why  _ did you do it?” Mabel clarified.

“Well, when you get to be an old fella like me, nobody pays attention to you anymore. My own son hasn’t visited me in months. So I figured that maybe I’d catch his fancy with a fifteen ton aquatic robot. In retrospect, it does seem a bit contrived. You kids just don’t know the lengths us old-timers will go to for some quality time with our family.” Mabel and Dipper pulled out the hats Stan made for them, and then looked over at me, since I hadn’t taken mine off. I was officially “Mold” now.

“Dudes, I guess the real lake monsters are you guys,” Soos commented. “Sorry, just, like, popped into my head.” I was glad that the twins learned their lesson, but I was also glad that I hadn’t left Stan  _ completely  _ by himself.

“So, did you ever tell your son about how you felt?” Mabel asked.

“No, sir, I got to work right straight on this robot. Made lots of robots in my day. Like when ma’ ex-wife left me, and I made a homicidal pterodactyl-tron or when my old pal Ernie didn’t come to my retirement party and I made an eighty ton shame bot that exploded the entire downtown area!” McGucket’s run-on sentence killed me, internally. “Well, time to get back to work on my death ray!”

“Well, so much for the photo contest,” Dipper said.

“Hey, um, I still have one camera left,” I offered.

“What do you want to do with it?”

As the others headed back down, I stayed back for a minute.

“Hey, McGucket,” I said to catch his attention.

“Eh?”

“If you ever needed someone to talk to or, you know, hang out with, just send me a message.” I smiled at him.

“Well, that’s mighty kind of ya, missy Sarah Jane. I’ll be keeping that idea in my head.”

“You know where to find me.” I smiled again, and slid down to join the others.

I saw the group’s boat approaching Stan and me, so I pretended to drop my fishing pole.

“Oh, sorry, I’ll go get that,” I told Stan, jumping overboard and driving under the water. I also saw us approaching Stan’s boat. “Meet you there!” I told the group, jumping into the water. Once I was me again, I resurfaced, just in time.

“What the….kids?” Stan questioned. “I thought you were off playing spin the bottle with Soos.” I climbed into the  _ Stan O War _ , luckily unnoticed.

“Well, we spent all day searching for a legendary dinosaur,” Dipper replied.

“But we realized that the only dinosaur we want to be with is you,” Mabel concluded.

“Save your sympathy,” Stan answered. “I’ve been having a great time without you. Making friends, fishing around, I even had a run-in with the lake police!” I was more than grateful that he didn’t mention me. “Guess I gotta wear this ankle bracelet now, so that’ll be fun.”

“So, I guess there isn’t room in that boat for a few more?” Dipper asked. The twins put on their hats. Stan looked at me, and I smiled at him with my “Mold” hat on.

“You kiddos ever seen me thread a hook with my eyes closed?” he finally replied.

“Five bucks say you can’t do it.”

“You’re on!”

“Five more bucks says you can’t do it with your eyes closed  _ plus  _ me singing at the top of my lungs!” Mabel added.

“I like those odds! Whoa, Soos, what happened to your shirt?”

“Long story, dude.”

“What about you, Mold? Have you ever threaded a hook?”

“No,” I told Stan, “but I would love it if you showed me.” Dipper took my camera from me.

“Alright, everybody get together, say ‘fishing’!”

“Fishing!” Mabel repeated. Stan ruffled the hat on my head, as Dipper took the picture.

We spent the rest of the day together, just having fun and doing whatever, making sure to take pictures that I would print out later, so I could remember the first day in a long time where I felt like I mattered. Besides, I’d be back later that night with another large barrel of fish food. I mean, you always have to feed your pets, right? Even if they happen to be a growing gobblewonker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confused by this chapter? I thought you would be. I mean, it's not like S.J. could be in two places at once, right? (Hint hint) Leave a comment on what you think S.J.'s secret might be!


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